“The cab driver – who witnesses said was talking on his cell phone and appeared distracted – slowed briefly but then tried to speed away . . .” (link from Streetsblog). (And this other source says he “has several traffic violations on his driving record.”
Something similar happened to us not long ego (although, luckily, nobody was hurt). This time the cops told the driver (who, again, had to be stopped by people on the street so she couldn’t drive off) not to worry about it.
P.S. I’m not saying the drivers should go to prison. The more appropriate sanction would be to get them out of the driver’s seat of a car. For the guy who killed the kid and tried to escape, perhaps forbidding him to drive for 20 years would be appropriate. But really it should never have reached that point: if each of the “several traffic violations” had resulted in his car being taken away and him being forbidden to drive for some period of time, then it’s likely he wouldn’t have been on the road that day and the kid would still be alive.
On the other hand, if hitting a kid and driving away is considered OK, then of course you’ll still see people driving that way.
I don't understand. In most states, leaving the scene of an accident, as the driver tried to do, is a felony. Are they letting him off because someone prevented him from doing this?
Bill: I don't know. In the hit-and-run that happened on our block, the cop just told the driver not to worry about it. In the case from the newspaper, perhaps they didn't think the witness testimony would hold up. For both cases, I think the underlying story is that people routinely flee the scene of a crime; I guess it's not considered such a big deal. I expect the driver could always say that they didn't realize anything had happened. That would seem to be evidence of reckless driving, but, again, I don't know the law on this sort of thing.
I live in New York, and one of the frustrating things about the Bloomberg administration is that someone seems to have made a decision to give low priority to enforcing basic traffic laws on drivers. Its actually surprising pedestrian fatalities have been so low, though they seem to be starting to creep up.
I've seen cars run red lights with impunity, but what is more common is drivers simply not slowing down when they turn corners. This makes green lights pointless for pedestrians at some intersections, the risk of getting hit by a speeding car turning the corner is too great. I've sometimes waited for red lights at crosswalks and then crossed simply because it was safer that way, I had more of a chance of seeing oncoming traffic and getting out of the way.
Yes, in most states hit and run driving is a felony and a fairly serious one at that.